If you've been paying any attention to the site of late, you've probably noticed us yapping about this little event called Bands + Brews we've been putting together on our home turf here at Industry City in Sunset Park Brooklyn. All summer long we've been inviting you, our adoring fans, down to a supremely unique courtyard space on the edge of New York Harbor to sipp cold ones and relax, all while amazing bands perform against a golden backdrop as the sun slips away over the New Jersey horizon.

Today we're thrilled to finally bring you a little video evidence captured during one of those amazing events, courtesy of a passionate, slightly unhinged, and completely loveable Arkells session. Seriously, try not to fall in love with these rock and rolling loving, Canadian boys...we dare you. The band are currently on the cusp of releasing their smashing new album, Morning Report , so no surprise, the band treated a very pro-Arkells crowd to a premiere of new tunes. They also zipped through a few classics from their 2014 outting, High Noon...including a heart-felt, Campfire version of the classic jam, "Leather Jacket". It's all too wonderful to take, really. So have at it! And about that dare... We wont, didn't we? You totally fell in love, didn't you?

Artist Bio

Its a weird time to be a rock band right now, observes Max Kerman, the singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter for the Arkells. I just feel like rock has gotten so conservative and doesnt know where to go. To be honest, I dont really listen to a lot of rock music right now.

Thats not a radical statement for your average twenty-something in this EDM-dominated era, but its a bit surprising coming from a guitar-slinging guy whose band seemingly personifies a certain old-school, ethic. Hailing from the gritty industrial outpost of Hamilton, Ontario, the Arkells have notched four Juno Awards and a gold record on their sweat-rusted belts, proving theres still a place for passionate, no-bullshit rock 'n soul in the mainstream. (In 2015, they were the most-played band on Canadian alt-rock radio.) But the groups new album, Morning Report, betrays a more irreverent, adventurous ethos that more readily recalls the cut-and-paste approach of hip-hop beatmakers than the plug-and-play attack of a live rock band, with click-tracked rhythms, subliminal samples, electronic pulses, and sax and violins threaded into the richly textured mix.

Certainly, this is the Arkells most eclectic album to date, from the piano-pounded, California Love-schooled swagger of Private School to the silver-lined break-up song My Hearts Always Yours, the sort of ascendant, blood-pumping anthem you can easily imagine sparking an arena full of waving illuminated smartphones. But if the Arkells have mostly scrubbed away the surface soot of their Hamilton-spawned sound, lyrically, Kermans songwriting hits even closer to home.

A lot of the songs are about me and characters in my life: my friends, my parents, my girlfriend, Kerman says. And a lot of times, theyre songs about what happened the night before. So thats why its called Morning Report: you text your friend the next day and its like, 'Give me the morning report!

But Morning Report balances tales of last nights debauchery with more sobering examinations of a time in life that doesnt get much play in rock music: your late-twenties. Its the phase when all your friends start getting married, your parents suddenly decide to get divorced, and long-distance relationships hit their shit-or-get-off-the-pot breaking point. But while melancholic, meditative ballads like Passenger Seat and Come Back Home provide unflinching portraits of marriages on the brink of collapse, rousing, soul-powered sing-alongs like A Little Rain pay poignant tribute to the friendships that help you through the tough times, and provide that much-needed shoulder to cry on.

Thats another thing thats so conservative about white-guy indie rock, says Kerman. What makes Drake so awesome is he just puts all his emotions right on the table for you to see. All of these songs and stories come from a genuine place for me.

The morning reports we get from our friends may arrive through smartphone screens, but the songs on Morning Report all chronicle face-to-face interactionswith all the intimacy, intensity and awkwardness they entail.